Oil drilling technology leaps, clean energy lags NEW YORK (AP) — Technology created an energy revolution over the past decade — just not the one we expected. By now, cars were supposed to be running on fuel made from plant waste or algae — or powered by hydrogen or cheap batteries that burned nothing at all. Electricity would be generated with solar panels and wind turbines. When the sun didn’t shine or the wind didn’t blow, power would flow out of batteries the size of tractor-trailers. Fos...

US economic reports hold out hope for hiring gains WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans are losing their jobs. Employers are struggling to squeeze more work from their staffs. The U.S. is producing so much oil that imports are plunging, narrowing the trade deficit. A string of data Thursday raised hopes for stronger hiring and U.S. growth in coming months. More jobs would spur spending and help energize the economy, which has yet to regain full health nearly four years after the Great Recession o...

Pope County to discuss step pay planA proposed step pay raise plan was presented to members of a Pope County Quorum Court committee on Tuesday. Justice Doug Skelton asked members of the Governmental/Personnel Committee to review an ordinance that, if passed, would enact a step pay raise plan allowing employees to reach the full pay for their position over a five year period. New employees would be hired at 85 percent of the full pay established for their positions, and would rec...

Gitmo closure elusive, Obama looks at other steps WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite President Barack Obama’s new vow, closing the Guantanamo Bay prison is still a tough sell in Congress. So the White House may look instead toward smaller steps like transferring some terror suspects back overseas. Shutting down the prison at the U.S. naval base in Cuba is a goal that has eluded Obama since he took office. In his first week, he signed an executive order for its closure, but Congress has used its budget...

Local setbacks vex GOP governors eyeing 2016 race WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican governors are often seen as innovative policymakers and potential presidential candidates, but a few are struggling with political or ethical problems that might crimp their ambitions. Two governors eyeing possible White House bids — Bob McDonnell of Virginia and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana — suddenly find themselves fending off critics and trying to shore up legacies they hope will withstand national scrutiny. Other...

Justice Department appeals morning-after case WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Wednesday appealed a federal judge’s order to lift all age limits on who can buy morning-after birth control pills without a prescription. The decision came a day after the Food and Drug Administration had lowered the age that people can buy the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill without a prescription to 15 — younger than the current limit of 17 — and decided that the pill could be sold on drugsto...

Immigration debate gives life to annual rallies LOS ANGELES (AP) — Demonstrators demanded an overhaul of immigration laws Wednesday in an annual, nationwide ritual that carried a special sense of urgency as Congress considers sweeping legislation that would bring many of the estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally out of the shadows. Thousands joined May Day rallies in dozens of cities from Concord, N.H., to Bozeman, Mont. In Salem, Ore., Gov. John Kitzhaber was cheered by ...

Immigration debate creates dilemma for Obama WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s prospects for a sweeping legislative victory this year now rest almost solely on the immigration overhaul working its way through Congress. But immigration’s tricky politics have created a dilemma for a president fighting for an issue he considers central to his legacy. If Obama is too closely aligned with the legislation, it could scare away Republicans wary of appearing to hand the president a win. ...

Wall that once divided races remains, teaches DETROIT (AP) — When Eva Nelson-McClendon first moved to Detroit’s Birwood Street in 1959, she didn’t know much about the wall across the street. At 6 feet tall and a foot thick, it wasn’t so imposing, running as it did between houses on her street and one over. Then she started to hear the talk. Neighbors told her the wall was built two decades earlier with a simple aim: to separate homes planned for middle-class whites from blacks who had alr...

Security casts shadow over Obama’s Mexico trip WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is seeking to refocus economic relations between the U.S. and Mexico, even as fresh questions about security cooperation threaten to cast a shadow over the president’s visit to the southern neighbor. Obama also will use his three-day trip, which begins Thursday and includes a stop in Costa Rica, to highlight the immigration overhaul moving through Capitol Hill, both for an audience in Latin America and ...

Medicaid improved mental health for uninsured WASHINGTON (AP) — If you’re uninsured, getting on Medicaid clearly improves your mental health, but it doesn’t seem to make much difference in physical conditions such as high blood pressure. The counterintuitive findings by researchers at Harvard and MIT, from an experiment involving low-income, able-bodied Oregonians, appear in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine. The study offers a twist for states weighing a major Medicaid expansion...

Abused disabled Iowa plant workers awarded $240M IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — For decades, the lives of 32 mentally disabled Iowa turkey processing plant workers were controlled by their Texas-based employer, which profited handsomely by hiring them out. Regardless of sickness or injury, they were driven from the dilapidated, bug-infested bunkhouse where they were housed to their 41-cents-an-hour jobs removing the slaughtered birds’ innards. Day and night, at work and at home, their overseers subj...

Fed keeps stimulus, says taxes and cuts have hurt WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve cautioned America’s political leaders Wednesday that their policies are hurting the economy. The Fed stood by its aggressive efforts to stimulate the economy and reduce unemployment. But it sent its clearest signal to date that tax increases and spending cuts that kicked in this year are slowing the economy. “Fiscal policy is restraining economic growth,” the Fed said in a statement after a two-day policy ...

Officials revise forecast, surplus figuresLITTLE ROCK (AP) — Arkansas finance officials on Wednesday predicted the state will end the next fiscal year with a $13.8 million surplus, despite a series of tax cuts lawmakers enacted during this year’s legislative session. The Department of Finance and Administration said it expected the state to end the current fiscal year with nearly $4.87 billion in net available revenues. That’s about $38.2 million higher than state officials predicted ...

Laying bare your finances to apply for health care WASHINGTON (AP) — After a storm of complaints, the Obama administration on Tuesday unveiled simplified forms to apply for insurance under the president’s new health care law. You won’t have to lay bare your medical history but you will have to detail your finances. An earlier version of the forms had provoked widespread griping that they were as bad as tax forms and might overwhelm uninsured people, causing them to give up in frustration. The ...

Tests link deadly ricin to Obama letter suspect TUPELO, Miss. (AP) — Ricin was found in the former martial arts studio of the man suspected of sending poison letters to President Barack Obama and other public officials, and was also discovered on a dust mask and other items he threw in the trash, federal prosecutors said in a court document made public Tuesday. The affidavit says an FBI surveillance team saw James Everett Dutschke remove several items from the studio in Tupelo, Miss., on Ap...

Brighter view on jobs and pay lifts US confidence WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are more optimistic the job market is healing and will deliver higher pay later this year. That brighter outlook, along with rising home prices, cheaper gasoline and a surging stock market, could offset some of the drag from the recent tax increases and government spending cuts. A gauge of consumer confidence rose in April, reversing a decline in March, the Conference Board, a private research group, said Tuesday. T...

Information sharing before bombings under review WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Tuesday his counterterrorism bureaucracy “did what it was supposed to be doing” before the Boston Marathon bombing as his top intelligence official began a review into whether sensitive information was adequately shared and whether the U.S. government could have disrupted the attack. “We want to go back and we want to review every step that was taken,” Obama told a White House news conference. “We ...

Officials say threatened FAA towers to remain open WASHINGTON (AP) — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has assured lawmakers the Obama administration will prevent the closure of 149 small airport towers as well as end furloughs of air traffic controllers nationwide as a result of legislation passed by Congress, according to officials involved in negotiations on the bill. The disclosure came as senators sought signatures on a letter to LaHood saying that that their support of the legislation ...

FDA: Morning-after pill OK for ages 15 and up WASHINGTON (AP) — The government is moving the morning-after pill over the counter but only those 15 and older can buy it — an attempt to find middle ground just days before a court-imposed deadline to lift all age restrictions on the emergency contraceptive. Today, Plan B One-Step is sold behind pharmacy counters, and buyers must prove they’re 17 or older to buy it without a prescription or else see a doctor first. Tuesday’s decision by the F...